From Our Pastors: September 8, 2023

“The sky is shouting its joy, the earth dances its gladness,

The sea roars in jubilation,

The fields, with plants and animals,

Are making merry, and the trees are singing.

Listen for God’s footsteps!”

 Psalm 96:11-13a (transl. Rabbi Jill Hammer)

Psalm 96 lends this text to one of my favorite songs from the Friday night Shabbat service. I love to worship God while singing about how the rest of Creation is worshiping right alongside me (and sometimes even leading the choir)! Maybe you experienced that last weekend as you worshiped in place. If you did, I would love to hear about it. Or maybe, with the start of a new school year, the pressure to squeeze the last few drops of goodness out of summer, a difficult season in your life or family, or reading the news, you feel out of tune with the jubilant music the Psalm describes. 

No matter where you find yourself, you are welcome in this community. This Sunday, from the start of choir practice to the last bit of cleanup after the special reception picnic and games, and throughout lots of worship and fellowship in between, we will be making merry and singing our songs of joy to God who created us and sustains us still. We’ll also pray for our hopes and our needs, asking for grace and mercy, trusting that God can hold our complications and pain right alongside our joy and singing.

Wherever we find ourselves, let’s “listen for God’s footsteps!” Together we may hear where God is already present in our lives, and see what paths God is leading us down in this season of new beginnings.

In Christ’s peace,
Megan